General Discussion

For all practical purposes, a nation WITHOUT a navy neutralized Russia's Black Sea fleet. And I'm supposed to fear them still? Even without US involvement, NATO far more powerful and advanced than Russia on a good day.

China is the only real player here. Russia is dying. Demographically, economically and militarily. Take away the nukes, and they're a greater Kazakhstan. A poor, backward country like they've always been. In the 90s, when the veil was finally stripped away, it turned out the old Soviet Union was a paper tiger, hopelessly backward technologically and we were afraid of ghosts. A mirage. From the performance of their current equipage, it seems they still are.

And don't expect much help for them from China. More times than not, they don't like each other. Beijing is using Russia for cheap oil, political leverage against the US and little else.